


You Can Outrun the Devil if You Try

by Dangerously_Demonic



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Frank Castle's Tired Dad Face, Gen, Human Experimentation, Hydra (Marvel), I should be working on other fics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lots of references to Pokemon, Seriously Joey is a Pokemon nerd, The Pikachu Hoody, Yeet the Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dangerously_Demonic/pseuds/Dangerously_Demonic
Summary: Frank Castle kills people. It's what he's good at and he loves nothing more than making the bastards pay in the form of them bleeding all over the floor. Frank Castle also has a soft spot for kids and nothing lights a firecracker under him faster than hearing about kids in bad situations. So, when he gets a tip about something involving kids, he doesn't hesitate to load up and move out.Unfortunately, he quickly finds himself in over his head and unsure of how deep the rabbit hole goes when he raids a facility owned by Hydra. The raid quickly goes south and ends with him driving down the road with something formerly human in the back of his van...And Frank has no idea what to do about it.





	1. Fustercluck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, blame FeralCreed for encouraging this. Canon will be thoroughly fucked and thrown out the window. With the fucking idiotic cancellation of The Punisher on Netflix, I'm salty, will be salty for months, and need more Frank 'Murder Dad' Castle.

“ _But you can’t outrun the 7.62 NATO he just shot at you.”_

Frank had been scouting out the ‘warehouse’ for close to two weeks now. His digging and…Persuasive means of interrogation had yielded the information of the owners being involved in human trafficking, with the rumor of minors being the main ‘product’. That alone made his blood boil, but the more he scouted things out, the more things didn’t sit well. The warehouse was located in the middle of nowhere, with what seemed to be an abandoned factory nearby. That alone threw up a red flag. It’d make it hard to move people around, and honestly, he hadn’t seen much in the way of anything that could be used to move people around.

There were plenty of reasons on why it’d been set up this way, and none of them good. Still, he wasn’t one to back away from the idea of putting a whole lotta bullets into some bastards, especially bastards that did shit to kids. And Frank had shown up with bullets to spare.

After gathering his gear, he quietly and carefully made his way towards the warehouse. The sheer lack of patrolling security made him wary, but then again? Maybe these assholes were just confident that no one would find them. Carefully, he nudged open a side door and quickly sweeped the area, but found the place empty.

Except, was that a fucking elevator? While the whole place gave the appearance of being abandoned, the elevator looked brand new, as did the stairwell doorway a few feet away. Both needed keycard access and Frank immediately wondered what the hell he’d stumbled into. This was a lot pricier than what some traffickers should be able to afford, unless they handled the real sick shit and catered to rich bastards that liked diddling kids.

The sound of a door creaking open caused him to duck behind a sheet covered stack of _something_ and wait for the guard to pass by. Frank grabbed him from behind, covered the man’s mouth, and stabbed him in the chest five or six times. Really, the first two stabs were probably good enough, but in his world? There was no such thing as overkill. After dragging the corpse to where he’d previously hidden, he searched the body and produced a keycard…That conveniently worked to open the stairwell; the elevator would just be stupid to take.

Once inside the stairwell, he carefully peeked over the railing. Apparently, the whole place was actually underground and had been built fairly recently from the looks of things. More warning bells went off in the back of his mind as he went down each floor, trying the keycard as he went. The fourth door quietly buzzed and unlocked, leading him into a somewhat sterile hallway. In front of him, on the wall, hung a plaque. ‘Block 1A Containment cells 1-10’ then an arrow pointing to the left. Under that, ‘Containment cells 11-20’ and an arrow pointing to the right.

Frank went left and felt unsure of what he’d find. He expected animals or maybe prisoners. On either side of the hallway were glass front cells and in each of them were anywhere from one to six children. The oldest that he could see couldn’t have been more than sixteen, but the majority seemed younger. Most of them were huddled up in the far corner and he had to do a double take: some of them didn’t look _exactly_ human. Many of them did, but a few just looked…Wrong.

Immediately, he knew he’d stumbled into some deep shit, the sort of shit that he didn’t know if he could get out of. Still, Frank had a weak spot for kids and anything involving them just served to piss him the fuck off. He moved to the nearest cell and tried to ignore the scared looks he received as he swiped the card he had. The door didn’t unlock.

“Fuck.” He muttered. The place seemed largely abandoned, except for the guy upstairs and he wasn’t sure if he’d find someone with a high enough clearance to open the doors. He started backtracking, but ducked back around the corner at the faint sound of the door buzzing.

“I hate dealing with this one kid.” A male voice complained. “He likes to bite and is pretty sneaky about it.”

“Yeah? What do you do about it?” A second voice asked.

“Smack him in the head. Just don’t knock him out or anything. The docs will get pissed at you and…I don’t know. Do something fucked up, probably.” There was the slight sound of fumbling. “He’s the only one worth anything in this block. Rest of them are the rejects. Dunno why they’re kept around.”

Slowly, Frank edged to the corner where the two men had stopped at a cell and where in the process of unlocking it. Neither of them wore anything close to body armor, but before he could take a shot, the taller of the two’s radio crackled.

“1A Handler Team, be advised. Armed intruder on your floor.”

He really didn’t want to traumatize the kids any more than they already had been, but he didn’t have much choice. Leaning around the corner, he quickly fired at the two ‘handlers’ and grimaced at the sudden terrified noises from the cells. Moving to the dead men, he grabbed the fresh keycard and unlocked the cell they’d been working on.

Inside the cell were two boys. The eldest of the two was a patchwork of human and something…Reptilian, while the younger one seemed human enough, the eyes definitely weren’t, but Frank could worry about that later. “Come on, I’m getting you out.”

The two didn’t waste time scrambling towards the door and huddled next to each other while Frank tried to get the next cell open. ‘Tried’ being the operative word. The keycard was denied, followed by the words ‘lock down’ popping up on the small screen. Seconds later, the kids began choking and coughing, leaving Frank momentarily bewildered before trying to crack open the glass with the butt of his rifle. Even if he couldn’t save them all, he could try to save some.

“We need to go!” The eldest boy grabbed Frank’s arm to try and drag him away. “I…They’re not supposed to live. Dying is better than what _They_ have planned.”

He glanced at the kid before looking at the cell where the kids inside had all slumped over. Frank had a thousand and one questions, but they’d have to wait till later. “What the fuck is this place?”

“Hell.” Slowly, the teen started towards the door but made a noise of surprise when Frank shoved past him.

“Stay there.” He stopped at the corner and shouldered his rifle as the door buzzed. With the door acting as a choke point, he quickly mowed through the incoming grunts, only pausing to reload. When no one else tried to come through the door, he crept forward and carefully opened the door that’d been held open by the bodies. Seeing nothing but corpses, he gestured for the boys to follow him. “What are your names?”

“I’m Michael. That’s Joey.” Michael lightly pushed the other boy’s back. “Go.”

Joey grabbed Michael’s wrist and dragged him along as they started climbing the stairs. “Not leaving you.”

The second-floor door suddenly opened, but before Frank could react, the guards opened fire. Michael immediately crumpled, bleeding from the chest and with the back of his head suddenly all over the wall. Joey simply screamed out something that might have been his friend’s name, but Frank couldn’t tell. Instead, he grabbed the boy by the waist with one arm before Joey could go towards Michael’s body, and used his other hand to blindly spray at the guards. While he would have liked to have killed or injured most of them, he just needed suppressive fire.

By the time they reached the ground floor, Joey had started limping and Frank knew the kid wouldn’t be able to make it to the van barefoot. He couldn’t get a good gauge on Joey’s age, but if he went by size, the kid was probably nine or so. Grimacing, he scooped up the boy and started booking it. While the extra weight slowed him down, the combination of adrenaline, sheer determination, and being pissed the _fuck_ off kept him going.

Strangely enough, the guards only took a few pot shots at him as he ran. While he knew they could damn well hit him if they wanted, he felt somewhat thankful that they didn’t. Still, it likely meant they planned on trying to find him later. That was something he did look forward to, because it meant he’d be able to put more of the bastards down, even if they were just the cannon fodder.

When he reached the van, Frank was just about coughing from needing air, but he couldn’t stop yet. He shoved his rifle into the back and tried to get Joey to get into the passenger seat. The boy refused, and honestly, Frank didn’t have the time to argue with him. Instead, he just managed to get the kid half wedged against the door. It was awkward for the both of them, but he couldn’t exactly blame him for being clingy.

He pulled out of the small, wooded clearing that he’d parked the van in and once he’d gotten onto the main road, floored it. Frank had no idea where to go, he just knew he had to put miles between them and…Whatever the _fuck_ that place had been. He also had the issue of what to do with Joey, but that was an issue that could wait till later.

Frank quietly sighed at the sound of soft sobbing and awkwardly rearranged his arms so he could lightly pat the kid’s back. He’d seen a number of things over the years, but tonight had taken the shit cake for being one of the worst things he’d seen. As much as he tried, he couldn’t shake the image of the kids dying out of his head. He knew that there were some shitty people out there who did some even shittier things but…He just couldn’t fathom what he’d seen and knew that it was a very, very dangerous rabbit hole to be looking into.

The mile markers steadily ticked upwards as he drove and he really wasn’t sure how long he’d been driving when Joey made a quiet noise, then moved slightly. Frank suddenly felt something warm and wet soak through his shirt near where the kid’s mouth was. He rolled his eyes and figured Joey had fallen asleep and drooled or something. Grabbing a relatively clean napkin from the cupholder, he wiped at his neck and shoulder to try and mop up the drool.

The napkin came back dark.

Immediately, he punched the switch to turn on the overhead light with his knuckle, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining what he thought he saw. No, that was definitely blood on the napkin. Frank was used to blood, he’d seen plenty of it, both his and otherwise. This caused him a small stab on concern, because he was positive that kid hadn’t been hit by any bullets and he sure as shit knew he hadn’t been hit.

Joey made another noise, this time of obvious pain, prompting Frank to pull over onto the shoulder. With it being fuck’o’clock at night, he didn’t expect much in the way of traffic. Lightly, he nudged the kid as he worked to get his seatbelt off. “Kid, where’s it hurt?”

“Everywhere.”

Frank muttered out a curse. Well, if the kid was bleeding from the mouth, that probably meant a gut shot or…His train of thought came to a grinding halt when he saw blood on Joey’s hands, not transfer blood from an injury, but from the tips of his fingers splitting open. “…What the fuck?”

It took some work on his part to get Joey into the back of the van since the kid had just about gone limp. When Frank flicked the flashlight on, he just sat there, having no idea what he was seeing. Rather than being shot, the kid had spots where his skin had simply torn open and while the injuries should have been heavily bleeding, they only bled sluggishly.

He really didn’t have much time to think about things when Joey suddenly screeched, the sound not at all human. Frank jerked back in surprise at the sudden sound of flesh ripping right before the kid _changed_. It happened too quickly for him to really process it, beyond thinking it looked like something out of a horror movie. He picked the flashlight back up then stared at the remains of bloody clothes and what he uncomfortably guessed was skin. In the middle of it all laid something brown, fuzzy, and shaking. Then it started whimpering.

The phrase ‘way above my paygrade’ came to mind, and Frank had half a thought of just booting everything out into the ditch, getting a bottle of Jack, then forgetting the entire night had ever happened. Except, this thing had been a kid about two minutes ago and he’d seen some…Less than human things at the warehouse. Not to mention the freakish mess Michael had been. It wasn’t possible, shouldn’t be possible, and here he was.

“Fuck.” Frank declared, eloquently.

Finally, he grabbed an old blanket and carefully picked up the thing formerly known as Joey…Who apparently had a tail now. Great. There wasn’t much protest about being picked up, but Frank simply set the thing to the side so he could clean up most of the bloody mess. He’d kick that out, and a bottle of Jack was still in the plans. For the moment, he left the bundle of ‘what the fuck’ in the back, got back into the driver’s seat, and just drove while trying to ignore what weirdly sounded like crying from the floor behind him.

Eventually, he found a decent enough motel and rented a room. The clerk took one look at him and decided not to ask questions, much to Frank’s relief. Still, it left him with the issue of what was in the back of his van. He pinched the bridge of his nose and climbed out of the van before opening the side door to scoop the bundle up. The thing in the bundle moved and he couldn’t help but flinch at the sensation of it trying to press itself against his chest.

He unceremoniously deposited the bundle in the ugly floral-patterned chair, then went to the bathroom to wash his hands and face. Frank sighed and wondered for the fifth or sixth time that night on what he’d gotten himself into. The resumption of the quiet whimpering prompted him to leave the bathroom and stare at the thing that’d managed to uncover itself. The Thing Formerly Known as Joey was definitely an animal of some sort, covered in brown, blood matted, down. The eyes were the same as before, however: bright green and reptilian…Which fit better now than they had with human Joey.

But, Frank supposed, this was still Joey. Or was this like the movies where the person turned into a dumb animal? He frowned slightly and decided to test the theory. Crouching down in front of the chair, he spoke softly. “Do you still hurt?”

His answer was a headshake, which also answered his initial question. It also meant things were a lot more complex. Carefully, he began unwrapping Joey, grimly curious on what the boy had somehow changed into. His guess? Some sort of weird lizard, bird, cat…Thing. The fluff made him think of a baby bird, but rest made him think of some cutesy children’s book about some clumsy, wingless dragon. Honestly, considering the night so far? Joey turning into a fucking dragon would rank very low on the list of weird things he’d seen tonight.

“I’ll be back.” He got back up to his feet and returned to the bathroom to wet a washcloth before returning to where Joey still sat. When the...kid? Flinched away, Frank sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re covered in blood.”

Joey just seemed to blink and look down at himself, before looking back up. Frank recognized the look he was given. He’d seen it plenty of times on people, and it was one that said the kid had seen too much. Seeing someone get their brains blown out tended to do that, though. It took a bit of quiet reassurance on his part, but eventually, he was able to start trying to get the blood off. After a couple trips to the bathroom to rinse the washcloth out, he figured that Joey was as cleaned up as he could get him. Anything further would probably need a bath and Frank didn’t know how that’d work with the fluff.

“I’m going to go get some food. I’ll be back in a little bit.” Frank inwardly sighed at the quiet whimper and the suddenly watery eyes that stared at him. “Look. I know a lot of shit happened tonight, but I’ll be back. I promise. I’ll get you some chicken wings or something. How’s that sound?”

He tried to offer a reassuring smile at the nod he was given. Frank didn’t smile for much anymore, but he felt sorry for the kid; he hadn’t asked to have anything involving tonight happen. Unfortunately, there was a lot more to the story than what Frank had seen, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. After locking up the motel room, he briefly ducked into the back of the van to change his shirt before leaving to find a food joint and a liquor store that were still open.

Thankfully, he found both and returned to the motel room with food, something that immediately caused Joey to start sniffing the air and sit up from where he’d curled up. Frank watched him, with some faint amusement, as he awkwardly untangled himself from the blanket. Frank’s amusement quickly turned to faint concern when Joey lost his balance and face planted into the floor. “You alright, there?”

Joey nodded before trying to stand up and promptly falling over. This happened a few times before he finally seemed to give up and shuffled over on all fours to where Frank stood by the bed. There, he managed to haul himself up onto the bed. Honestly, Frank didn’t think that he was much bigger than how he’d been as a human, as weird as it was to think.

Once Joey seemed settled, Frank opened up the box of chicken wings and set it down next to him before digging into his own burger and fries. The kid had the same idea, but consistently overshot grabbing the food and instead had to almost feel around the grab the chicken wings. It made Frank wonder if something hadn’t gone screwy with Joey’s vision. Still, with the youngster fed, he set up a makeshift bed on the chair.

Everything, so far, had left Frank clueless on what to do. He obviously couldn’t dump the kid off on anyone, and there was the very real concern of whoever had owned the warehouse looking for him. Sighing, he opened the bottle of Jack and took a healthy sip of it.

He was used to the possibility of a hunt going poorly. Maybe he’d get shot or, God forbid, an innocent bystander getting shot…But this was a whole new meaning to the phase ‘gone south’.

“…Fuck.” Frank muttered, for the umpteenth time that night.


	2. Down the Rabbit Hole

The unfamiliar sound of the AC unit kicking on woke Joey up from his restless sleep. Momentarily scared, he looked around the dark motel room as he tried to remember where he was, then the events earlier in the night came crashing down on him. Michael was dead. He sucked in a shaky breath and felt the burn of tears as he momentarily saw the other teen crumbling in his mind’s eye.

They’d both known that Michael had been on borrowed time. The doctors had only kept him around to keep Joey company, but at the same time, used him as a means of manipulation. Still, as bad as he felt for even thinking it, he knew that Michael had died a lot quicker than what the doctors could have done to him. It didn’t ease any of the pain he felt, however.

Joey dragged a hand over his face, not that what he had anymore could really be considered a face. Something animalistic with a stubby snout. Honestly, he felt afraid to know what he looked like. The claws on his hands and feet, especially those big curved things on what were once his big toes, scared him. He worried about accidentally clawing himself open, somehow.

Finally, he looked towards the bed where the man slept. He never did mention his name. Joey tucked his tail closer to himself at the thought of going back to sleep alone. While he didn’t know how long he’d been there at the cells, he’d spent nearly all of it with Michael and they often slept together in a heap. Honestly, it’d been an attempt at keeping each other reassured with the overall uncertainty of everything.

He picked at the blanket that half covered him with the tip of a claw. It smelled like a few different things: the man on the bed, oil of some type, dust, and blood. Considering earlier, the blood was likely his. Finally, he heaved a sigh and carefully climbed off the chair. He couldn’t really figure out why he wasn’t able to stand upright. His balance felt all weird. Maybe he actually couldn’t despite feeling that he _could_.

Joey dragged the blanket off the chair and made his way to the bed where he stood up on his legs, using the bed and end table to balance himself. The guy seemed nice, so maybe he’d understand? After a moment longer of standing there watching him, Joey started to feel a little bit like a creeper and finally just hauled himself onto the bed, carefully.

He settled down next to the man, on his side, and awkwardly covered himself up with the blanket, then laid there. While it wasn’t nearly the same as Michael, it made him feel a bit better…Just the knowledge of having someone else there with him. Besides, the bed was also a lot more comfortable than the chair. He sleepily blinked at the curtains and stared at the faint light on the floor for a short bit until he finally dozed off.

Frank woke up the next morning feeling vaguely overheated. He quietly groaned and rubbed the side of his face, then looked towards the chair. The blanket and Joey were missing. Then, he noticed the blanket half covering him along with a suspiciously Joey sized lump under the blanket that was pressed against his side…And to top it off, his arm felt like it was missing. Carefully, he extracted his arm out from under the blankets and quietly winced at the sudden static, as well as the fact that his arm from the elbow down refused to move.

He slowly slipped out of bed and made his way to the bathroom while rubbing his arm to get the feeling to return. It also gave him a moment to wake up and start thinking about his next move. While he’d put a decent number of miles between him and the warehouse, his gut feeling said he needed to put as many miles as he could. The big issue was Joey. Sure, it was easy getting him into the motel room at night, but daytime would be an entirely different story. This entirely ignored that fact that Frank had zero idea what to do about Joey in general.

A sudden warbling noise caused him to sigh. Joey must have woken up and he briefly wondered how his life had gotten so weird. He returned to the main part of the motel room where the kid had sat up and somehow managed a bit of a concerned look. “Hey, kid. Hungry?”

Joey gave a slight nod before slipping off the bed and slinking into the bathroom where he pushed the door shut. Frank stared at the closed door for a moment. “Don’t fall in. I don’t wanna be fishing you out.”

He slowly looked around the motel room and started mentally working through what he wanted to do. The blankets were absolutely getting grabbed, because Joey wouldn’t be able to stay in the passenger seat while they were in town. Even with as weird as things were currently, Frank wasn’t going to be an asshole and make him stay on the unpadded van floor. This left the decision of buying breakfast now and then checking out, or checking out now and then getting breakfast.

By the time Joey wandered out of the bathroom, Frank had made up his mind. He crouched down in front of the kid and tried not to focus on how fucking weird his life had suddenly turned. “Your name’s Joey, right?”

At the nod, he continued. “Didn’t get to introduce myself last night because of how big of a mess it was. I’m Frank. Right now, we need to keep moving. We can’t stay here. What I’m going to do is pack everything up, get it into the van, then I’m going to wrap you up and carry you out. Figure I can just pretend you got food poisoning or something and don’t feel good. Then we can get breakfast. Sound good?”

Joey thought about everything for a moment before nodding. It didn’t seem like a bad idea and actually made sense. Still, he wished he could talk and presently, he had no idea if he’d ever be human again. He looked down at his hands and hunched up a bit.

While he could guess something was wrong, Frank was completely out of his element and could only let out an awkward sigh. Honestly, he hadn’t even begun to process everything he’d seen last night and couldn’t really imagine how Joey was doing. Sooner or later, though, it was all going to hit the kid and he imagined it was going to hit hard. After a moment, he stood up and gestured at the side of the bed furthest from the door. “Hang out there while I get things packed up, just so no one sees you.”

He shuffled off behind the bed, but sort of leaned to the side to watch Frank pack things up. It didn’t make much sense on why the man stripped the bed of the blankets and shoved them into a duffle bag, but he couldn’t really ask at the moment and simply waited. When the blanket was dropped on him, he made a bit of an indignant noise, but automatically curled up when he was picked up.

Despite being able to see the light change through the blanket, he couldn’t see much else. Instead, his other senses told him about the world around him. He heard vehicles on a nearby road as they sped past and the crunch of gravel under tires when a vehicle passed behind the van. Then there was the smell of the dumpster and the rotting things within. A faint whiff of someone’s cheap perfume and then some type of take out. Suddenly, things were darker again and Frank sat him down on something soft, then murmured for him to ‘stay there’.

Slowly, Joey settled down and quietly poked his nose at what he was laying on. Immediately, he caught a whiff of the man and realized that he was laying on the blankets from the bed. It made sense, after he thought about it. He sort of remembered being on the van floor and how uncomfortable it was. The van’s engine starting caused him to jump slightly, but after a moment he relaxed and waited.

“Alright. You can look around.”

It took him a moment to untangle himself, his limbs moved weirdly now, but he sat up and made an inquisitive noise as he looked around. Tied down to the floor were a few different boxes and he really didn’t know what they contained, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to go poking around. Finally, he peered into the front of the van, curiously.

Frank glanced to his right when he suddenly saw Joey’s head. “Well, at least you’ll pass for a dog of some sort at a glance. I’m just worried about someone seeing you.”

He wasn’t a fan of the dog comparison, and since he couldn’t voice his disapproval, he settled for glaring. Finally, his stomach gave an angry rumble and he batted at an empty cup before giving Frank an expectant look.

“Yeah, yeah. Breakfast. Uh, I saw a decent diner last night.” Frank really hated that Joey couldn’t talk. He didn’t want to get something the kid wouldn’t eat. “Scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon sound good? Maybe some of those sausages?”

Honestly, all of it sounded great and Joey quickly nodded. This prompted a slight grin from Frank. “Figure you’d like the meat stuff. Got a bunch of sharp things in your mouth.”

After a moment, he started trying to climb into the passenger seat, only to be pushed back. Irritated, Joey huffed. Frank shook his head. “Not till we’re out of town. Once you eat and we get on the highway, then you can get up into the front.”

Soon, he felt the van come to a stop and heard a change in the engine as Frank shifted gears before killing the engine. Curiously, he looked up when the man half turned to look at him.

“I have the back windows tinted, but people can still look in through the front. Cover yourself up and I’ll be back in a few.”

Joey wormed his way under the blanket and quietly sighed as he heard the van door shut, then lock. Then, he tried to ignore how he became acutely aware of the silence and instead tried to focus on the sound of some liquid dripping from the engine. However, the steady, rhythmic, _tink_ only ended up annoying him. At least last night, he’d been tired and had napped while Frank was gone.

He squirmed and ignored the urge to get up, because he could absolutely understand why Frank wanted him to stay hidden. As far as he knew, the people at the facility could be looking for him and he sure as hell didn’t want to go back. Joey squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly. Along with seeing Michael die, he could also see the other kids dying in their cells. He’d known them, sort of. When nothing had been going on, they’d made up games to pass the time. While it hadn’t been anything fancy, there’d been some type of bonding going on. They were all in the same hell hole, after all. Though, Michael _had_ been right. Dying was better for them than staying there.

The sudden sound of the door opening caused him to spasm and suck in a breath. Carefully, he poked his head out from under the blanket and peered up at Frank who gave him a concerned look.

“Hey, you alright?” Frank spoke softly, taking note of the wet trails under Joey’s eyes. It didn’t take a genius to know the kid had been crying. He sighed when he didn’t get an answer and instead, Joey looked away. “Well, I got your food. Got you a cup of water, too since I didn’t know what you wanted to drink.”

Joey looked back when the box and cup were held out to him. Carefully, he took the box and set it on the floor before taking the cup. He eyeballed the straw and wasn’t really sure if he could use it. After a moment, he tried to get a drink and after a bit of work, managed to figure it out. It just meant getting the straw way back into his mouth then pressing it and his tongue against the roof of his mouth to form a bit of a suction. While it didn’t work as well as if he were human, it still meant he’d be able to drink soda.

He opened up the box and immediately went for the bacon. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he had it and it tasted like the best thing ever. It gave him something positive to focus on, instead of the traumas of last night. When he finished eating, he poked his head into the front seat to look around. Frank glanced at him. “You can sit in the front seat, just grab the blanket. If I have to stop or something, I want you to dive for the floorboard and cover yourself up, alright?”

Not needing to be told twice, he grabbed the blanket and bailed into the front seat. Then, he simply gawked at how vivid the world outside of the van was. He knew his vision had changed sometime back, just with how things looked different, and he knew things seemed a bit brighter from when he was in the motel room…But the world just seemed bright and vivid and he _stared_. Finally, he tilted his head slightly to try and see the sky; he’d almost forgotten what it looked like.

Frank couldn’t really tell if Joey was just being goofy or if he was just that excited to look out the window. While he hoped the kid was being goofy, he also had no idea how long he’d been at that place…A thought that caused his blood to give a few bubbles of a boil. He forced his anger down to the low simmer that it usually sat at and faked a smile. “Liking that, huh? I want to put some miles between us and the motel room, but I’ll find a spot to stop and let you stretch your legs.”

When he reached over to ruffle Joey’s head like he would any kid, he expected him to maybe duck away in annoyance like most kids. Frank _did not_ expect him to make a sound that almost seemed scared, and violently jerk away, smacking the side of his head on the window. He yanked his hand back in surprise. “Christ!”

The yell, despite it being from surprise, just caused Joey to duck down and it honestly reminded Frank of a dog who expected to get hit again. He glanced at the side mirror before pulling over to the shoulder and parking. Then, he carefully touched the kid’s shoulder and spoke softly. “Joey, look at me.”

When he looked up, Frank quietly sighed at the bit of blood on his mouth. It was probably from a tooth or something. He grabbed a napkin and held it out. “You’re bleeding.”

After Joey took it and pressed it to his mouth, Frank hesitated for a moment. While he had a soft spot for kids, he couldn’t stand being around them for long. They always reminded him of his own and reopened wounds that had never healed, only festered. He’d loved his kids, just as much as Maria, and would have done anything in the world for them. But that chapter of his life had come to a very painful and violent end…And being around kids just reminded him of the memories and events he’d never get to make or have with his own.

Frank shoved the painful memories away and focused on the present. “You don’t like your head being touched?”

Joey nodded slightly.

“Alright. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you when I yelled. You surprised me.” Vaguely, he gestured at Joey’s mouth. “You alright, there?”

Again, Joey nodded.

“Anywhere else you don’t like being touched?” Considering he’d overheard the guards mentioning smacking someone in the head, Frank not only wasn’t surprised at Joey having issues with his head being touched, but also felt his temper trying to surge up. “I don’t know what the hell went on at that place, I’m not sure I want to know, but I _do_ know that I want to do everything I can to keep them from finding you again.”

Lightly, Joey touched at the back of his neck, but just gave Frank a wary look at his statement. Frank wasn’t too bothered by the wariness, he hadn’t really given the kid a reason to trust him. Still, he gave a nod. “Head and neck. Gotcha.”

It gave him another thing to think about, on top of the already weird situation. Really, there was too much that’d happened at once and he was just trying to roll with it…Mostly because it stunk of really bad shit that involved government secrets and things that shouldn’t be possible. After a while, he looked over at Joey after a bit and noted how the kid looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. Gently, he poked his arm. “Why don’t you get in the back? If you pass out, you’re going to fall in the floorboard.”

Joey gave him a sleepy look before grabbing the blanket and just about oozing into the back of the van. Frank gave the boy a bemused glance, then focused back on the road. At least the kid was starting to move around better and didn’t seem like he’d trip over himself as easily.

Frank settled into a new routine over the next few days, one that revolved around keeping Joey as hidden as possible. They’d find a motel room in the evening after getting dinner, spend the night, pack up in the morning, and spend all day driving. It wasn’t until he hit Ohio that he finally felt comfortable with the idea of staying in a motel room for more than one night. The good thing about it all was that Joey seemed to have adapted to his new form decently enough.

Honestly, he didn’t quite know when he’d gotten used to the idea of hauling the not-so-human kid around. Just that he always felt a small sense of concern when Joey didn’t immediately chirp in greeting when Frank got back from getting food. Usually, this was because the kid was either asleep or in the bathroom. Maybe it was a bit weird to be feeling a bit protective of the boy when he’d only been carting around Joey for about a week, but he came to the conclusion early on that the kid had _no one_. Someone had to look out for him and while Frank wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea, he couldn’t just leave the kid somewhere and be okay with the idea.

Joey had some weird quirks, though. He had a habit of dragging blankets under the bed and worming under it to nap. The first time he’d done it, Frank had thought he’d run away or someone had broken in while he was gone. Once he realized what’d happened, he ended up thinking it was a good idea since the kid could hide under the bed and not be seen. Once or twice, he swore he heard Joey crying, but when he checked on him, the kid always seemed to be asleep. Frank wasn’t dumb and assumed that the boy was faking being asleep.

He always woke up the next morning to find Joey sleeping next to him, however. It didn’t matter if the kid started in a chair or under the bed, he always ended up next to Frank. With how the kids at the warehouse had all been huddled up, maybe Joey was just used to it. He really didn’t have a problem with it, he just wished the kid would stop sleeping on his arm. Frank was damned tired of waking up with a cold and numb arm.

A week after finding the kid, Frank finally splurged on a semi-decent motel room since he planned on staying there for more than a night. This one actually had a tv, because he figured Joey was probably getting bored of doing nothing all day. He still didn’t really know what to do about the boy. Joey probably needed toys or something to keep him entertained, but Frank didn’t know what to get him. Something from the tv drew Frank out of his thoughts.

He looked over at Joey who’d adopted a fairly comical position on the motel room couch while he watched tv. Rather than sitting up or laying on his stomach, he’d opted to lay on his back, legs drawn up to his stomach, tail tucked between his legs, and his arms pulled against his chest. Frank thought it looked uncomfortable as fuck, but Joey apparently thought otherwise. He focused on the tv and tried to figure out what the kid was watching. It was some cartoon that somehow seemed familiar, then he rolled his eyes when the Pokémon logo popped up. How the fuck was that show still going? He remembered Frankie watching the show and…He shoved the memory out of his mind, violently.

Getting up, he grabbed his keys and wallet off the table. “I’m going to get pizza for lunch.”

Joey looked over as Frank abruptly left and blinked a few times before shifting his attention back to the cartoon. Slowly, an ache settled in. It didn’t exactly hurt, just felt like he needed to stretch. Finally, he rolled over, then winced when the ache briefly flared up.

Honestly, the change wasn’t bad, not like the first time…But the popping, cracking, and grinding sounds left a lot to be desired. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself human again. No claws, no fluff, and actual human toes again. He sat up and wrapped himself up in the blanket. While he knew he needed clothes, there wasn’t much he could do about it until Frank got back.

When the door unlocked, he looked over and couldn’t help but find Frank’s shocked expression to be funny. “What kind of pizza did you get?”

Frank slowly closed the door behind him. He hadn’t exactly expected to see Joey human again and he scrutinized him. The kid seemed a little bit on the thin side, from what he could see, and his dark hair had been cropped short. This meant he’d need to go to the store and get him some clothes once lunch was over. “Pepperoni and cheese. Got you some wings, but…Guess that’s not a problem, now.”

After setting the boxes on the table, he briefly dug through his duffel back to pull out a t-shirt that he then threw at Joey. “Just until I can get you some clothes.”

Joey made a startled noise when the t-shirt hit him in the face, but pulled it on after checking for the tag. He still kept the blanket wrapped around him as he carefully walked over to the table, then sat down to grab himself some food.

Frank had come up with a million and one questions by this point. As he helped himself to the food, he carefully sorted through the most important ones since he didn’t want to overwhelm Joey with a bunch of questions at once. Maybe just some basic ones. “So, how old are you?”

Joey picked at a small burned bit of cheese on the pizza crust before shrugging. “I don’t know. Guess it depends on what year it is.”

Well, shit. Not to a good start. “2019.”

He considered this for a moment. Since it was late spring or early summer, he’d already had his birthday. “Fourteen.”

This made Frank raise an eyebrow, because the kid _did not_ look that old, especially with how small he was. It made him wonder how long he’d been at the place, but he wasn’t sure if he should ask. If he’d been there for a bit, considering he seemed skinny, maybe he was stunted? “What’s your last name? Maybe I can find your parents.”

“I ran away when I was eleven.” Joey blurted out, then shrugged as he looked down at his food. “It was probably a dumb thing to do, but…”

Immediately, Frank connected the dots and sighed quietly. It wasn’t unusual for runaways to get picked up for various things. “Any other relatives?”

“I was adopted. Didn’t really see any other family. They were too far away and dad was usually too busy for work.” Joey jabbed a chicken wing with his fork. “Didn’t stop him from dating once mom died.”

Frank internally winced. He hadn’t intended to dredge things up and went silent as he mentally reviewed the rest of his questions, but Joey wasn’t done talking.

“He started dating right after she was buried. I’d come home from school and there’d be some woman I’d never seen.” He paused to take a drink of his Sprite. “He didn’t care that I didn’t like it. Then I found out he was going to marry Carla and he didn’t care that I didn’t like her. Wanted me to be the ringbearer and I told him no.”

While Frank hadn’t intended to keep asking, it was another story if Joey was going to keep talking about it…He chewed on a chicken wing for moment before asking his next question. “He didn’t like it?”

“Nuh-uh. Said he’d ground me and he did. Told him I was gonna go to my friend’s house to study.”

“…I’m guessing that’s when you ran away?”

“Yeah.” Joey hunched up a bit. “It was stupid to do.”

“Is that how you ended up at the warehouse?” Frank asked, carefully.

“Yeah. Woman found me and said there was a shelter for homeless kids. I was hungry and agreed. It wasn’t.” By this point, he was just poking at his food, but not eating. “And then…They did…Stuff.”

Leaning forward, he nudged Joey’s arm. “Hey. I’m not gonna let them get you again. They want you, they go through me, got that? And I won’t hesitate to put the bastards down.”

“Like you did at the cells?” When Frank nodded, he picked at his pizza slice again. “Why do you care? I’m a freak. You should have just dumped me on the side of the road.”

Frank wasn’t about to tell the boy that he strongly considered it because he knew it’d ruin what little trust he’d developed. “Because you didn’t ask for any of this shit to happen. These people, whatever they’re doing and whatever they did, is fucked up. I…” He sighed, not exactly wanting to admit what he did as a ‘job’ to Joey. It wasn’t really the type of thing to tell a kid. “I kill people who bad things. The sort of people who can’t get caught by the cops. The people who did this to you, are the guys that get put on my shit list.”

Joey considered this for a moment before he finally nodded and started eating again. Frank didn’t say anything for several minutes, but glanced at the muted tv where Pokémon still played. He knew next to nothing about the kid, but wanted him to feel comfortable…At least, as comfortable as he could considering their present situation.

“So, you like them ‘pokeymans’?” He purposely said the name wrong, knowing it’d likely annoy Joey. Sure enough, he received a highly annoyed look.

“Pokémon.” He corrected, but felt unsure if Frank had said the name wrong purposely or not. “Yeah. I had a bunch of Pokémon games for my Gameboy. Had a couple legendaries and max evolution shinies.”

Frank, honestly, had zero idea of what any of that meant, but he quietly filed the information away for later. Then tried to figure out what all he could get Joey. However, he immediately knew one thing the kid needed. Getting up, he grabbed his keys and headed out to the van. There, he pawed through a container. He usually kept a handful of burners on hand, just in case. The phones weren’t good for anything but calls, but it’s all he needed.

Once back in the motel room, he slid the phone over to Joey. “Here. The only number in the address book is mine. If there’s trouble, you call me. Alright?”

Joey took the phone and flipped it open with his thumb, then looked up at Frank and nodded.

“Alright. I’m gonna go grab you some clothes. I’ll be back later.” After Joey confirmed, Frank headed for the nearby Wal-Mart and poked around for some clothes. Once he had some basic clothes, he started for the checkouts, but something on the clearance rack caught his attention. It was a bright yellow hoody with brown stripes encircling it, and sewn onto the hood were two long pieces of fabric that were supposed to be ears. He didn’t need to look at the tag to know it was Pokémon related. Honestly, Pikachu was the only Pokémon he was really familiar with, due to the critter basically being the mascot of the entire franchies.

He pulled the hoody off the rack and immediately knew it was too big for Joey, but there weren’t any others of a smaller size. For a moment, he heavily debated just putting it back. The thing would be comically too big for him and closer to a blanket than a jacket. Still, the kid _had_ mentioned liking Pokemon…

“Ah, fuck it.” Frank tossed the hoodie into the basket and continued to the checkouts.


	3. Those Fucking Bastards

The last thing Frank expected to be doing, was essentially taking care of a young teen. It wasn’t entirely out of the question to have some kid with him in some rare occasion. He’d briefly babysitted in the past while trying to find a safe place to dump them off after rescuing them from shitty situations…But this…This was another thing entirely. Joey wasn’t human anymore, likely had people looking for him, and had no family to speak of. As much as Frank hated to admit it, the safest place for the kid was currently with him. He sighed and looked over at the plastic bags in the passenger seat while he waited at the stop light.

He still couldn’t make heads or tails of everything that had happened in the past week and it honestly felt like he’d been picked up, then dropped into some sci-fi movie. He hated how when he closed his eyes, he sometimes saw the kids in the cells choking and dying. Frank wasn’t a stranger to the concept of death. He’d killed many, many people and would kill many, many more in the future. He’d seen his brothers in the service be killed, that was a fact of war…And he’d seen his family die.

The problem with the kids? They were entirely innocent and were likely runaways, just like Joey, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, then got thrown into hell. He also didn’t know if he’d somehow caused their deaths by trying to open the cell. Then again, they’d somehow known he was there and considering how Micro had wired up his little hidey hole? It was entirely possible that it’d been triggered by whatever command center had been in the building. Still, the guilt of being able to do _nothing_ to help or save them weighed heavily on his mind.

Frank parked in front of the motel room and killed the engine before looking back to the plastic bags. He supposed it wasn’t entirely a lost cause. He’d managed to save one, hadn’t he? That had to count for something.

Sighing, he grabbed the bags and made his way to the motel room door. Inside, Joey had a look like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, but Frank couldn’t immediately figure out what. Besides the 9mm pistol he kept stashed in his duffel, there really wasn’t anything for the kid to get into and as far as he could tell, his things hadn’t been touched.

Meanwhile, Joey just slowly leaned away from Frank and heavily debated bolting to the bathroom. It’d mean he’d be trapped, but at least locking the door might slow the man down. Warily, he watched as the bags were set down and the pizza box checked. While Frank had been gone, he’d finished off the last of the pizza. It’d only been a slice, but he didn’t know how the other would react.

He didn’t feel surprised that the pizza had been finished off, it’d been some damn good pizza…But that couldn’t be the reason why Joey was acting the way he was…Was it? Frank lazily pointed at the empty box to indicate it. “Got hungry?”

When Joey looked away and seemed to tense up, Frank sighed. Why the hell would the kid be upset over this? It was pizza! It was meant to be eaten, usually in the sloppiest fashion possible, insuring delicious cheese grease got everywhere.

“Joey.” Before he could continue, the boy cut him off.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. Promise.” Then, he bolted for the bathroom, or at least, he tried. He’d wrapped himself up in a blanket and untangling himself cost him precious seconds. It gave Frank enough time to grab his arm and he looked up at the man, scared of what’d happen.

The look he received simultaneously made Frank’s heart drop and his temper flare. Not at Joey, not by a long shot. At whoever had caused the kid to be scared of eating leftover pizza. Everything about him, from the wide-eyed side glance to how he tried to curl himself away so that his shoulder and back would take the brunt of a blow, screamed ‘I think you’re going to hit me’. God. Fucking. Dammit. “Hey. Hey. Joey. Stop. I’m not mad at you. Look at me.”  When the boy finally looked at him, it made Frank want to shoot every last bastard involved with this in the head. Repeatedly. “Why did you think I’d be mad about you eating the pizza?”

“If we acted up, or did what we weren’t supposed to sometimes we wouldn’t get dinner, sometimes lunch _and_ dinner. Maybe we weren’t fed the whole day. If we tried to hide the food, like bread or whatever and they found out?” He shook his head, but knew the implication would be clear.

That explained why Joey seemed thin, Frank thought grimly. “They do that a lot?”

Joey managed a very faint smile. “I got called ‘shithead’ a lot. Bit a chunk out of some guy’s arm once.”

“Eh, fucker deserved it.” Slowly, Frank released Joey’s arm and hoped the kid wouldn’t bolt. “Look. I don’t care if you ate the last slice of pizza. That’s what it was there for. Next time, I’ll just get two boxes instead of one and a bigger box of wings. Sound good, yeah?”

When Joey nodded, Frank stepped away to grab the plastic bags. “I, uh, got you some clothes and some stuff I figured you might like. Since you’re kinda having trouble walking, thought it’ll have to do till you feel better. Then I’ll haul you someplace and you can pick out what you want.”

Taking the bags, Joey returned to the couch and started sorting through them. The clothes were all solid colors, no designs or anything like that, which he was fine with. A pair of sneakers that looked like they might be a half size too big, but they were better than going barefoot. Socks, underwear, the usual type stuff.

Then, something bright yellow caught his attention and he pulled it out. Wrapped inside it was a sprite and a small package of regular beef jerky that had obviously been grabbed at the checkout line. When he fully unfolded it, he blinked a few times at the oversized, Pikachu hoody. Then, he gave Frank an uncertain look. “Why?”

Frank held back a sigh. Everything remotely nice he did was going to be met with suspicion, wasn’t it? It was frustrating, but at the same time, he couldn’t blame Joey. This time, he just chose to be blunt. “Because you’ve been treated like shit for God knows how many years. You’re just a kid. You should be running around outside lobbing water balloons at someone’s head, not…Not worrying that some fucked up bastard is going to come looking for you. I-I just, I don’t know…I just want you to forget about the shit that happened to you for ten seconds, I guess.” Finally, he lamely added. “Besides, you always seem cold because you’re always wrapped up in blankets. Guess that fluff wasn’t all that warm.”

He looked down at the hoody and lightly picked at a loose thread that attached one of the ears to the hood. Despite being a licensed product, it was a bit cheaply made and he was certain the first time it was washed, the ear would fall off. Joey sighed and shook his head. “Not cold. It feels safe. Michael was the only safe thing I had. He tried to protect me, but…They thought he was a failure and the only reason they kept him was to keep me company. All the other kids were like that. I was the important one and I don’t know why. The others…Everything got tested on them _first_. If…If they lived or came out okay, then it got used on me.”

The mention of Michael caused Frank to look down. While he couldn’t relate, exactly, he knew the feeling of losing something very, very well. “Do you know what they were trying to do?”

Joey shook his head. “No.”

Finally, he touched the back of his neck, under the shirt he wore, right where it met his back and rubbed his fingers over the small lump he felt there. He knew about the barcode tattoo, Michael had told him about it, but neither of them knew what the lump was. They had both guessed that it was something to track them in the facility, but he didn’t know if it’d work outside of it. He hated the idea of it being touched, but knew it’d probably be best to get rid of it, just in case.

“I’m going to do everything I can to keep them from finding you. I-I know you don’t trust me and I’m alright with that, but I promise.”

“It needs to go then.” Joey stated, suddenly. Then, he sighed at Frank’s confused expression and indicated the back of his neck. “We all had this…Thing put in us. Michael thought it was to track us in the facility. Sometimes kids would escape and go into the vents, but they were always found. I don’t know if it’ll still do that but…”

Frank cringed at the idea. Not the idea of doing motel bathroom surgery, he’d done plenty of that on himself, but it was the idea of having to cut into the kid. “Are you sure about that? I don’t have anything for the pain.”

Frowning a bit, Joey looked down for a moment before showing Frank the back of his hands and crook of his elbows. Both areas on both arms had small, round scars. Some were old, having lightened to the rest of his skin tone, but others were still pink and fresh. “They did a lot of stuff and it wasn’t all nice. If five or ten minutes of pain means I’ll never be there again…I’m okay with that.”

No kid should be saying shit like this, Frank thought. Still, he nodded and let out a soft ‘okay’ before briefly stepping outside to the van to pull out the first aid kit. He stood out there for a moment to calm his temper down; he wanted to be able to focus and cause Joey as little pain as possible. Once inside, he gestured at the clothes. “Put a pair of shorts on. It’ll be easier if you don’t have the shirt on.”

Joey grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to change. When he finished, he opened the door. “Okay.”

Getting up, Frank grabbed the kit and immediately grimaced at Joey’s ribbiness. While not dangerously underweight, the kid could still use to gain some weight. Then, he frowned at the small, circular scars down his spine before focusing on the barcode tattoo on his upper back, right under the base of his neck. Directly under the tattoo was the phrase ‘Project Titan – 34’. He repeatedly this out loud. “What’s that mean?”

“Everyone was in different projects. I was in Project Titan and was the 34th to be put into it. I don’t know any more than that. I think I was the only living one.”

Frank pushed away his temper. “Where’s the thing you want removed?”

“Under the tattoo.”

Carefully, Frank touched Joey’s shoulder and ran his fingers across to where the tattoo was at. He remembered the boy’s violent reaction from his head being touched and how he’d indicated the back of his neck being another sensitive spot. Once he reached the tattoo, he gently rubbed his finger over it and felt a lump. Keeping his finger on it, “Lean over the sink.”

Joey leaned over and stared at the hot water faucet, mentally steeling himself for the pain. He hated the back of his neck being touched, but knew the chip had to come out. The bite of the scalpel caused him to tense up and grit his teeth while trying to push back a whimper. He could feel the blood rolling down the sides of his neck, smell it when it hit the air, and hear it dripping into the sink. Then, a sharp pressure where Frank squeezed the spot.

“Got it.” He grabbed what looked to be a plastic bead with a pair of tweezers then put it on the toilet paper before grabbing the needle and thread. When he looked back to the injury, he blinked at how the bleeding had already slowed. A bit strange, but then again, everything about Joey was strange.

Lightly, he wiped away the blood with some gauze and could only stare as the injury slowly knitted together. The healing moved sluggishly, but within a few minutes, it was as if he’d never cut into the boy. After wiping the rest of the blood off, he brushed a finger over the tattoo because he half expected the lump to have come back. Finding nothing, he patted Joey’s shoulder and handed him a dry washcloth. “Here. Get the rest of the blood off you.”

“You got it out?” He got the washcloth wet and wiped the blood off as he stood up straight, then looked down at the countertop where Frank indicated the toilet paper. Quietly, he nodded.

“You alright?” After washing his hands, Frank pulled a pair of pliers out of his back pocket then used it to crush the plastic bead before dumping the crushed remains into the toilet and flushing it.

Carefully, Joey touched the back of his neck and found smooth skin instead of stitches or a bandage. Confused, he looked up at Frank. “Why’s my neck feel fine?”

“…Fuck if I know. I was gonna stitch it up when it just started healing.” Frank finally shrugged as he threw away the bloody gauze. “I ain’t gonna question it, kid. Probably a good trick to have.”

“You’re weirdly okay with everything. I mean I basically turned into…Something in your lap.” He followed Frank out of the bathroom and grabbed a t-shirt out of the pile to pull it on.

“I don’t know what’s going on, what I stumbled into a week ago…But freaking out isn’t going to do a bit of good. I’m just trying to roll with the punches when shit pops up.” Frank said from the table where he’d started folding up the empty pizza box. “I _do_ know that you’re just a kid that came out of a shitty situation who doesn’t have anyone. It don’t sit right with me to just dump you somewhere.  You’re…Not human, anymore, and there’s too many people out there who’d love to do shit to you.”

Joey thumbed the zipper of the hoodie and quietly listened to Frank. “But why? Why do you want to help me? You can’t be that dumb. You’ve gotta know that this is some bad stuff.”

“It’s kinda what I do.” He sighed. “I’m not saying I’m some hero who throws bad guys in jail. I kill the bad guys. Make sure they can’t hurt anyone again. Getting into bad situations isn’t anything new for me. I…Look. I’ve got a soft spot for kids and it pisses me off when shit’s done to them. I walked into that warehouse thinking I was going into a sex trafficking ring that dealt with kids. I found something else and I’m not sure what I found is any better. Like I already told you: I’m more than willing to put a few bullets into anyone who comes after you. I know I haven’t given you any reasons to trust me and I’m fine with that.”

“I kinda trust you…I think you’re crazy though.” Joey kind of snorted and looked over at Frank with a slight grin. “You stomped into a place, all by yourself to take on a bunch of guards. And then the weird stuff with me changing happened and anyone in they’re right mind woulda chunked me into the woods.”

“Ah, it’s not so bad. Most of it is me not giving a fuck.”

“Guess I’m lucky, then.” He unzipped the hoodie and pulled it on. Despite seeming cheap, the inside of the hoody was soft and fluffy…And was absolutely three sizes too big. He pulled the hoody up out of curiosity and made an annoyed sound when it ended up falling over his eyes. Reaching up, he pushed the hood back slightly, only for it to fall forward again.

Frank glanced to the side and laughed at how goofy Joey looked. “You look so fucking ridiculous…That thing is way too big for you.”

Finally, he just pushed the hood back and held his arms out where the sleeves had engulfed his hands by several inches.  “Then why you’d get it?”

“Eh, it was the only one they had and figured that even if it was too big for you to wear that you could use it as a blanket or something. Plus, Pokachi is the one Pokeyman I recognized and you mentioned liking them.”

Joey just stared at Frank for a long moment. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or fucking with me.”

This just made Frank laugh harder. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fuckin’ with you. I know what Pokémon are. You like it, though?”

He pulled the hood up again, but this time managed to get it perched properly on his head. Then, he gave the man an honest, happy grin as he tilted his head slightly. “Yeah. It’s comfy.”

Despite the head tilt having a not-quite-human feel to it, Frank liked the fact that the kid seemed happy about the hoodie. “Hey, that’s great. The Sprite and jerky are your’s, too, by the way. I…Look. I don’t wanna bring up shit from earlier, but you talked about how they didn’t feed you right and it shows. You’re kinda skinny…Lemme know what some snacks are that you like, just so you have some food around.”

The offer made him look down at his feet. “I don’t know. You don’t have to. I’ll be okay.”

“Kid, I’m offering. I’m not asking for you to do it immediately. Just think about it, and while you’re thinking about it, lemme know what you want for dinner. I was kinda thinking Mexican.”

Immediately, Joey perked up. “I like Mexican.”

“Yeah? Tell you what. The local place has a drive through, you can come with me tonight and you can get whatever you want.”

While the offer sounded great, Joey had a bit of a dubious look. “Anything?”

“Anything, I mean, hell. If you wanna get nothing but a box those mini tacos that are nothing but beef and cheese? Go for it.”

“Nachos with everything on it. No jalapenos, though.”

“There you go.” Frank still thought Joey looked damned goofy in the oversized hoodie, but the happy grin just made him look like a regular kid…Even with the strange eyes he had. “When we get there, if there’s something else you want or you change your mind, just let me know.”


	4. One Day at a Time

When evening rolled around, Frank couldn’t help but feel amused at how eager Joey was to get out of the motel room. He couldn’t really blame the kid since he’d basically been stuck in motel rooms for the past week. However, his amusement faded when they got outside. As a general rule, motel rooms tended to have shitty lighting from the cheapest lightbulbs possible. Now that the boy was outside in actual sunlight, it let Frank see how pale Joey really was. Maybe finding a place for the kid to spend a little while just being a kid wouldn’t be a bad idea.

After unlocking the van doors, he peered around the windshield at Joey who just stood there by the door, staring up at the sky. Frank found it strange, but didn’t comment. Instead, he simply climbed into the van and slammed the door shut. The sound of the door shutting seemed to snap the boy back to reality and he clambered in a moment later, then started fussing with the seatbelt.

“What was that about?”

Joey looked up, an expression of confusion on his face. “What was what about?”

“You were just staring up at the sky. See something interesting?” Frank started the van and backed out of the parking spot. Already, he had a good idea of what he wanted to get himself for dinner.

“No, I…Haven’t seen the sky since I got to the labs.” He looked down at his lap and lightly picked at a spot on his shorts. “I guess I kinda forgot what it looked like. It’s hard to remember when you just have white tile ceilings to stare at.”

Frank quietly sighed. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around everything concerning Joey. Granted, most of it he learned only a few hours ago, but it was just beyond anything he’d ever heard of. Finally, he nudged the kid’s arm. “Hey. You’re not there anymore. Remember that.”

“I know. I just…I just wish Michael could have made it out. But he would have had a rough time because…” He gestured at his face to indicate the facial mutations the older teen had. “I guess it was good that it was fast. It’s better than what they would have done to him.”

“You doing alright with that?”

Joey shrugged slightly and hunched a bit before making a noncommittal noise. He really didn’t know, especially with how he still saw the back of Michael’s head exploding in his dreams. Then again, he also knew that he’d had a lot of stuff just thrown at him at once. He wouldn’t be able to figure things out immediately; he’d learned that from his Mom’s death. Still, things weren’t exactly like that…Being able to change into something was an entirely different story. He still didn’t know what to think about it, either.

Rather than saying anything, Frank simply started the van. The Mexican place wasn’t too far away, but by the time they reached it, Joey had all but bounced out of his seat from the idea of getting to pick his own meal. It caused an uncomfortable tightness in Frank’s chest to see the kid _ecstatic_ over something so simple. He had the sort of expression kids would have when being told they were going to Disneyland, and he had it over fucking Mexican food.

Joey quietly listened as Frank rattled off the items on the menu and struggled to make up his mind on what he wanted. Everything sounded fantastic and there were too many things he wanted, but he also knew that he wouldn’t be able to eat everything. Some of the foods would have to wait for another time. “The supreme burrito and cheese nachos…And a sprite.”

“Anything else?” He looked over at Joey who lightly chewed on his lower lip. The kid had that look of wanting more but not wanting to say anything. “Tell you what. I ain’t picky with my food. If there’s something else you want, I’ll get it and you can pick off my plate.”

“The supreme nachos?”

“Yeah, sure. I was thinking about getting that, anyway.” With everything figured out, Frank ordered the food and then rolled up to the window to wait. He looked back to Joey and quietly snorted at how the boy seemed to be focused on something across the street. Honestly, he still didn’t know what to do about him. He couldn’t dump Joey off with someone, he couldn’t leave the kid on his own, and if the people at the lab came looking for him? Frank knew he was the best person to defend him.

After getting the bags of food, he passed them over to Joey. “No eating until we get back to the motel.” Frank couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the disappointed sound that Joey made. “It ain’t that far. You can wait.”

Once back at the motel, Frank started pulling the food out of the bags and dividing it up. “Been a while since I’ve had Mexican.”

“Yeah.” Joey agreed, more focused on getting the lid off his nachos than anything. “They gave us okay food, unless we acted up. Then it was just this flavorless gooey crap. Kinda like overcooked oatmeal but grosser.”

Frank made a bit of a face. While he didn’t mind oatmeal, Joey’s description honestly did sound pretty nasty. “Hey, don’t have to worry about eating that anymore. You have Mexican that needs chowed down on.”

Rather than replying, Joey dug into his food and made quiet happy noises as he ate. The more he was around the kid, the more Frank’s temper flared at what’d been done to him and he couldn’t help but feel regret over the deaths of the other children. After a bit of time, he scooped up some of his food and went to drop it on Joey’s plate. However, the kid suddenly _snarled_ and jerked his plate towards him. Frank yanked his hands back out of surprise. “Hey!”

Immediately, Joey hunched up and started rapidly babbling out apologies, then twisted himself in anticipation of being hit. Frank sighed and briefly closed his eyes to try and think before he reacted. What a fucking mess he’d gotten himself into. Opening his eyes again, he spoke, this time, softer. “Hey. Joey. I’m sorry, you surprised me.”

Warily and wide eyed, Joey looked at him. “I thought you were going to take it…But…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know why I did that.” Slowly, he uncurled himself, but didn’t look up to meet Frank’s gaze. “Everything’s different.”

Frank was good with kids, liked being around kids, which was why shit involving kids pissed him off. He could calm them down and reassure them if he needed to…But this? This was far beyond a Band-Aid and saying ‘it’ll be okay’. “What do you mean?”

“It’s…” Joey shook his head, not knowing how to explain it when he barely understood it. “I don’t know. It’s like being thrown in a college class. I’m being told stuff, I know I am, but I don’t understand it. There’s all this new _stuff_ in my head and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it.”

What was he supposed to tell this kid? Finally, he sighed. “I wish I knew what to tell you and I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t know what to do about any of this shit. About all you can do, either of us can do, is just take it step by step. Look, alright. You don’t like your plate messed with. I can deal with that.”

Frank grabbed the lid from his food and dumped some of the nachos into it, then slid it across the table to Joey. “Better, yeah?”

Tentatively, Joey took the makeshift plate and quietly nodded. “Yeah.”

“So, uh…When’d all this new _stuff_ start happening?”

“When I changed. The first time. It’s just kinda gotten worse. Everything’s just…Intense.” He thought for a moment as he struggled to come with a good analogy and push through his momentary anxiety over the idea of potentially being punished. “Ever messed with the TV setting and made the colors all vivid and bright?”

“I know what you’re talking about, yeah.”

“It’s sorta like that. I…Kinda figured my vision was weird at the lab…But I didn’t know how weird.” He finally picked up a chip and popped it into his mouth. “And everything else is kinda like that, too.”

Frank didn’t know what to think about that, but simply nodded. “Like I said, one step at a time. You’ve had a lotta shit thrown at you and I’m about as clueless as you are about it. Just…Lemme know about shit, aight?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t wanna look dumb if I can’t explain it.”

“Psh. You can apparently turn into a fluffy lizard. I’d be asking a whole lotta more questions if you could explain it.” He took a sip of his drink and shrugged. “I’m not gonna think you’re dumb if you can’t explain it.”

“Why are you so okay with everything?” Joey asked, suddenly, and looked up at Frank. He knew he’d asked it earlier in the day, but he just couldn’t grasp how the man in front of him just seemed to be rolling with everything that’d happened so far. “You’re acting like you see this every day.”

Franking fucking laughed and shook his head. “Trust me kid. I don’t know what to think about this shit. Hell, the night I found you? I hit up the liquor store while I was getting dinner. You being able to do what you do opens up a massive can of worms that’s honestly kinda terrifying. It’s shit that shouldn’t be possible…But sitting here, trying to rationalize it won’t do me any good. Not when I got a scared kid that’s at the center of it. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d take care of you.”

Quietly, Joy ate as he considered this, but it wasn’t long until he had another question. “Then why do you seem mad most of the time?”

“Are you thinking I’m mad at you?” Considering how Joey had acted so far, Frank couldn’t be sure if he was or wasn’t. He sighed at the nod he received. “Yeah. I’m a pretty angry guy, but not at you. I’m pissed _for_ you. At what was done to you. You’re just a kid, Joey. You should be worrying about your next math test or if the kid you’re crushing on likes you or not. Teenager stuff. Not this whole thing with people coming after you or dealing with everything that’s been done to you. Oh, yeah. I’m really pissed and I wanna put a bullet into every one of those fucks involved.”

Maybe he should have been bothered at the idea of Frank wanting to kill a bunch of people, but then again? He’d seen how the soldiers had just opened fire at the three of them: preventing his escape had been more important than his life. Joey nodded slightly. “They deserve it.”

“Got any other questions?”

For the moment, Joey chose to work on eating his food as he sorted through which questions would be the most important to ask. Honestly, Frank had answered a lot of what he was worried about. Finally, he looked back up. “When are we leaving again?”

“Figure tomorrow. I don’t know if you’re being looked for, but I don’t want to risk it by staying in one place a long time. At least this time I won’t have to sneak you out of the motel room.” Frank shot Joey a bit of a grin. “Plus, you won’t have to hide in the back until we get out of town.”

Joey nodded and shifted his attention back to his food since his questions, for now, had been answered. Still, it gave him plenty of things to think about. Honestly, the hardest thing to get used to for him, so far, was how there really wasn’t any rules. He’d spent the last three or so years in a very structured environment with a set wake up time, set meal times, and a set bedtime. Here? It was really just…Whatever.

After he finished eating, he grabbed his cup of sprite and wandered over to the couch in order to find something to watch. He’d really missed being able to watch tv and wondered about all the shows he watched before he’d ran away. Chances are, most of them had gone off air. Quietly, he flipped through the channels until stopping on Cartoon Network. He didn’t recognize the show, but it seemed alright enough. His attention eventually shifted from the tv to Frank who’d started packing a few things up.

“Wanting to leave early tomorrow?” Joey asked as he rolled over onto his side to watch.

Frank shrugged. “I like being prepared to grab shit and fuck off if it’s needed. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes there’s unwanted visitors. It’s just good to always be prepared.”

“So…How’d you get into doing…This?” Joey vaguely gestured, not really sure what ‘this’ was. “You’re a mercenary, right?”

The first question caused him to look down and a brief memory full of screams bubbled up to the surface of his mind. Frank shook his head. “Nothing you should hear about…No, I’m not a mercenary. I don’t get paid. I kill people who do nasty shit and manage to avoid being caught while they’re doing it. Maybe they’re good at covering their tracks, maybe they have a lot of money and pay off the cops. Doesn’t matter to me. If they’ve hurt people and I got the proof? I’ll kill ‘em all the same.”

“I’m guessing that there’s a lot of people who don’t agree with what you do.” Joey wasn’t stupid. He knew what Frank was describing was incredibly illegal. It basically murder and while he probably would have abhorred the idea a few years ago…He couldn’t really condone what Frank did, not with what he’d gone through at the labs.

“Jesus Christ, you have no idea. I know a couple people in high places, though. I know how to cover my tracks pretty damn well, but…They turn a blind eye to what I do and do a bit of house cleaning every now and then if I miss something. As long as I don’t fuck up anything they’re doing, they leave me alone.” With that in mind, Frank knew that if he ever wanted to dig deeper into Joey’s bullshit, that Madani was just a call away. Still, he wasn’t keen on getting anyone involved that he didn’t need to; the fewer people who knew about Joey, the better. Besides that, anything that her and her people managed to dig up would likely just serve to piss him off even more.

“So…Do you go by some code name like in the movies?”

Frank thought for a moment on answering the kid, but honestly? If Joey got a laptop or anything that could connect to the internet, he’d probably find out pretty quickly, anyway. “The Punisher.”

“Why? I mean, okay, in comics it’s pretty simple. Wolfman turns into a wolf, so there’s his name.”

“I punish people for what they’ve done.” He replied as he zipped up his duffel bag.

“…The Punisher. Because you punish people.” Joey repeated and then stared at Frank for a moment. “That is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve heard. _Please_ tell me you have some symbol you use, too.”

“A skull.” Honestly, Frank was trying his damnedest not to start laughing at the incredulous look on Joey’s face. It was nice to see the kid showing some sort of emotion other than fear or wariness. “Yeah, I know. I’m not the most creative guy around, but it works. When the fucks I’m after see it, they know who I am. Part of it’s psychological. If they’re freaked out, they won’t think straight, and it gives me an advantage.”

Joey scrunched up his face at Frank’s reasoning. “At least it wasn’t something totally stupid like…Gundude.”

“Gundude. Really? I’m not _that_ unoriginal.”

“Yeah, but you’re close to it.” Joey rolled back over onto his back and squinted at the tv. “This show is lame.”

“Then find something else.”

He glanced back over at Frank and gestured at the tv with the remote. “150 channels and there’s nothing interesting. Most of it is Pay-Per-View, anyway.”

“The motel room was $60 a night. What are you expecting?” Frank dropped his duffel bag by the door.

“Decent tv is a human right, okay? Bad tv is against the…” Joey trailed off, forgetting the name of what he was trying to say. “Uh…Starts with a G…?”

“Geneva Convention.”

“Yeah, that!”

Frank just finally cracked up. “Alright, alright. You’ve made your case. I’ll see if I can find a motel that has decent tv, next time.”


End file.
